Seth Kaffka dives into the (admittedly unsexy) topic of selling commodities, and brings more enthusiasm than some people take to a professional sporting event. He shares the story of what started in 2006 as Blackhive Corp buying and selling a truckload of sugar packets, that eventually grew into a diversified portfolio of activities that spans from canned asparagus to branding some of the most innovative new products going on the shelves of top tier retailers. Seth and his team bring an opportun...
Dec 13, 2017•39 min
“Bucket the Change” might not be a part of your daily vocabulary today, but it will be soon! Bucket Technologies is an emerging company in Northwest Arkansas and in this episode we sit down with Francis Hwang, CEO to discuss their plans to remove coin change from cash retail transactions. You can learn more at www.buckettechnologies.com or say hello at @bucketthechange on twitter, instagram, and facebook. Don’t miss a single episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast. Be sure and “Subscribe” to us o...
Dec 06, 2017•39 min
Kyle Tabor is the founder of Blue Sail Coffee, with three Central Arkansas locations, and a thriving in-house coffee roastery. Kyle walks us through his journey of starting with a few thousand dollars and sleeping on a military cot in the back of his first location, to creating an omnichannel coffee company with an incredible culture and brand. Kyle recommends Common Grounds: An Entrepreneurial Guide to the Coffee Shop Office, a book that was written out of his coffee shop! Ancil Lea is a Conway...
Nov 22, 2017•38 min
This is Part Two of our conversation with Oscar winning digital artist, David Kersey. If you haven’t checked out Part One, then we would recommend starting there to learn about all of his experience in Hollywood. Part Two picks up with David’s move back to Arkansas in 2015. We discuss the New Design School, and all the efforts they are putting towards educating the next generation of creative professionals. You can learn more about their programs at www.newdesignschool.org and say hello to them ...
Nov 14, 2017•24 min
David Kersey is an Oscar winning digital artist, now building the animation program at the New Design School in Northwest Arkansas. In Part One of our conversation with David, we learn about his early interest in the arts, how he fell in love with animation, and the stories of working with Sony and Disney on movies like Polar Express, Tangled, Ratatouille, and eventually winning an Oscar with Frozen. Tune in to Part 2, where we talk about the New Design School, and everything that David has been...
Nov 06, 2017•38 min
SCREEMO helps brick and mortar marketers to connect physical customers to the omnichannel using digital gamified experiences in-store to create a call to action on the consumer's mobile and enhance the customer experience. Shai Bargil , who leads operations for SCREEMO, and Adir Zimerman CEO, join us to share more on their innovative platform to bring advertising to life. The founder team started in Israel, and recently moved operations to Bentonville, AR after catching the eye of Walmart CEO, D...
Oct 30, 2017•38 min
The Arkansas Fellowship is a 2-year program that is aimed at getting some of the top Arkansas graduates integrated into the most entrepreneurial companies in the state. This episode we meet some of the Fellows, learn about their experience with the host companies, and dive into the future of the Fellowship. Our guests this week are: Jackson Fitzgibbon & Anna McCorquodale – Collective Bias Christian Wheeler & Austin Rodgers – Corporate Insight Strategy Anna Conard - Apptegy Christopher Gavin - Sl...
Oct 18, 2017•30 min
Kevin and Aaron Higgins are cousins, business partners in four successful companies, and as their customers describe them, they're two "rigid, get-it-done dudes." With a wealth of international, cross-disciplinary experience, Kevin and Aaron share their story of teaming up to create four ventures over the last decade. Nu Fangled Images can digitize your VHS home movies. FTown Longboards is the number one skate shop in Arkansas. Orion Global Partners is their sourcing and logistics execution comp...
Oct 09, 2017•40 min
This episode is the countdown to the AR Startup Crawl which will be on Friday, September 29th in Downtown Fayetteville! Haley Allgood and Megan Frohardt join Jeff to talk about all of the music, bands, and startups that will be out showcasing the growing Arkansas startup and technology scene. Sign up here! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/startup-crawl-tickets-36490104886 If you have any questions visit arstartupcrawl.com or reach out to [email protected]. Hosted by Jeff Amerine: Jeff@startupj...
Sep 26, 2017•10 min
This week we have a roundtable discussion in Conway with the AR Conductor team, and our friends at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. Jeff Moore and Clark Cogbill are leading the marketing efforts for the AEDC, and have a long collective history working with some of the largest marketing firms in the state and in the region. Get in touch at http://www.arkansasedc.com/ Jeff Standridge and Kim Lane are leading efforts at the Conductor in Conway which just launched their brand new Makers...
Sep 12, 2017•34 min
Two students from the University of Arkansas join the podcast to discuss their entrepreneurial journey and the resources that all students should know about! Andrew Miles is CEO of Grox Industries and has won numerous awards and challenges through university competitions. Laura Wasson won the Design Solution Challenge by solving a problem at a local non-profit called “Seeds That Feed”. Don’t miss out on hearing their advice and how they have achieved such great success! Grox Industries: https://...
Sep 04, 2017•34 min
It's the 100th episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast! Thank you to everyone who has listened over the years and helped us achieve this incredible milestone. This episode, the original hosts of the show, Jon Cadieux and Jeff Amerine, take over and reminisce on the best moments from the show. Hear the lessons both have learned over the years and how the podcast has brought attention to some of the best entrepreneurs in the area. Jacob Moore also hops on the show to discuss digital marketing and h...
Aug 28, 2017•47 min
Yoon Kim is the founder of the media startup Blogs For Brands, a full service content marketing agency with an award-winning design team that manages blogs, social media, email, and ads for brands. With a team of over 10 people based in Siloam Springs, Yoon tells his story of how they are changing the game of digital marketing. He also created the Outdoor Blogger Summit, a summit designed for journalists and outdoor bloggers to come together to share ideas and practices. Don’t miss hearing his g...
Aug 21, 2017•42 min
Mayor Lioneld Jordan and Devin Howland join the Startup Junkies Podcast to discuss all things Fayetteville! Mayor Jordan has been the mayor of Fayetteville since 2009, and Devin Howland is the new Economic Vitality director for the city of Fayetteville. We chat about their perspectives on Fayetteville and what makes the city primed for incredible growth. Learn how the public sector can support entrepreneurship, and the ways you can be involved in some of the upcoming events! Mayor Jordan’s Faceb...
Aug 14, 2017•30 min
Tim McFarland and Ed Nicholson from Elevate Performance join the podcast to discuss how they help bring out the best in leaders, and how good leaders can bring out the best of an organization. Elevate Performance is a consulting firm in Fayetteville, AR that assists leaders with personal coaching, peer advisory forums, and business advisory services. They help them with their greatest opportunities and biggest challenges. A great quote from this episode: “Everything counts because everything com...
Aug 07, 2017•34 min
Famous local artist Kenneth Siemens joins us to talk about his incredible story. Learn how Kenneth went from working an 8-to-5 corporate job to starting his own design business, Kerplunk Creative. Kerplunk Creative, LLC is a nimble agency specializing in bringing entertainment and excitement to product and retail. He now has art all over the state of Arkansas and works with some of the biggest companies helping to create the future! Don’t miss a single episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast. Be ...
Jul 31, 2017•41 min
Welcome to the Startup Junkie Social! This is a round table chat with a few of the Startup Junkies. We’ll discuss important events happening around the world and in our own community related to entrepreneurship, and any other interesting topics that may arise. We have some exciting upcoming Startup Junkie events! Find the link to them below. Learn more about the Natural State Angel Association event here Learn more about the NWA Venture Mashup here Don’t miss a single episode of the Startup Junk...
Jul 24, 2017•38 min
If you like engineering, then you're going to love this one! This week we welcome Matt & Jim from Ozark IC. We discuss their work with semiconductors, and how the future is powered by engineering. Their company has received grants from NASA, so they know what they're talking about. Don’t miss a single episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast. Be sure and “Subscribe” to us on the Podcasts app, as well as follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @startup_junkie Hosts: [email protected] mic...
Jul 17, 2017•47 min
The future of everything! Listen as Jeff & Michael discuss a wide range of entrepreneurial topics, including accelerators, posers vs. players, and Jeff’s “revolutionary” idea for beer currency. Don’t miss a single episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast. Be sure and “Subscribe” to us on the Podcasts app, as well as follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @startup_junkie Hosts: [email protected] [email protected]...
Jul 10, 2017•44 min
We were honored to welcome Cindi Marsiglio and Latriece Watkins to the show - representing the company that knows scale better than any other: Walmart. We visited during their Open Call event which Cindi emceed and was kicked off with speeches from Asa Hutchinson (Arkansas Gov.), Doug McMillion (CEO) and other Walmart leadership. The audience was 500 different US product manufacturers looking to get on-shelf of the world's largest retailer. Cindi is the VP of US Manufacturing, and is overseeing ...
Jul 03, 2017•26 min
Gan Nunnally is an incredible businessman who runs George Nunnally Chevrolet in Bentonville, Arkansas. He won Dealer of the Year in Arkansas for 2017. Right now, he's up for TIME Dealer of the Year. He joins us to chat about running a successful family-owned business and treating customers right. He is also a part of the "Fireball Run" series on Amazon! You don't want to miss hearing out on how Gan "drives success" every day. Check out his dealership's website: http://www.bentonvillechevrolet.co...
Jun 26, 2017•42 min
Nancy Gray, Ph.D., is the head of BioVentures, the technology licensing office and business incubator for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). You don’t want to miss out hearing Nancy tell us about her incredible career. She has worked all over the country in countless roles in the both the entrepreneurial and pharmaceutical fields. She is currently helping oversee the Health Entrepreneurship Bootcamp in Conway! Learn more about Bootcamp: http://www.arconductor.org/conductor-c...
Jun 19, 2017•47 min
The Startup Junkie podcast comes to you from Conway, AR this week! Dr. Jeff Standridge drops by to tell us about the new Health Sciences Entrepreneurship Bootcamp. This amazing new camp teaches students the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and gives them the opportunity to formulate new health science ventures. Dr. Jeff Standridge is the team leader of The Conductor, a public-private partnership with UCA and Startup Junkie Consulting driving innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development ...
Jun 12, 2017•45 min
We're joined by Steve McBee (CEO of Creative - creative.promo) and the leadership team from Tango Press, Steve Toth and John Ballentine ( tango-press.com ) to talk about a recent project that they collaborated on to surprise and delight a company on a large scale. They share the thought that goes into each element of packaging from the consumers experience, and insights on how to work with people and companies that you know, trust, and love. Say hello: https://www.facebook.com/ creativepromomktg...
Jun 05, 2017•53 min
Casey Kinsey joins us from Lofty Labs, a value added tech consultancy that thrives at the intersection of Web Development and Data Analytics. Casey shares some of his entrepreneurial journey, including the tipping point was when he realized he'd never work for someone else again, accidentally growing Lofty Labs to something larger than himself, and advice for startups who need to hire outside tech help. Find out more here: http://hirelofty.com/ and say hello @loftylabs Hosts: Jeff@startupjunkiec...
May 29, 2017•47 min
Kirsten Blowers and Anna Morrison join us to share their experiences about starting and growing a business in Northwest Arkansas. Kirsten started Riffraff seven years ago, starting with only $100 and growing a business now worth over a million dollars. Kirsten was recently named to Forbes 30 under 30 for retail entrepreneurship and Riffraff has nearly 200,000 followers on Instagram. Anna Morrison started Campus Concierge four years ago and employs over 100 tutors in Fayetteville. She was recogni...
May 22, 2017•50 min
The NWA Venture MashUp is held around Northwest Arkansas to bring the entrepreneurial community together and celebrate a local success story. We had the opportunity to learn from Kenny Tomlin, who has been a technology leader, startup founder, investor and more over his career. Most notably in our local startup scene, Kenny started Rockfish Digital which grew (without ever raising capital) to be acquired by WPP in 2011. Kenny is now leading WPP ventures, and working with YouEarnedIt, an employee...
May 16, 2017•43 min
Raj Suresh joins us to talk about growing his comedy career, his work in opening and booking the Grove Comedy Club in Bentonville, AR, and shares his entrepreneurial path that started while attending grade school in India. Pardon any background noise in this episode. We were recording in Bike Rack Brewing Co. on the first night of pouring beer in their new location in the Bentonville 8th Street Market. Find out more about Raj @rajdoescomedy and www.rajdoescomedy.com Hosts: jeff@startupjunkiecons...
May 02, 2017•47 min
This episode is going to be a little different than our normal format. By way of a connection at Walmart we were introduced to Andrew Berkowitz who runs the Global Startup Movement. He’s interviewed entrepreneurs, investors, and support organizations like Startup Junkie all over the globe – Seriously – Africa, Australia, Silicon Valley, Hong Kong and many more. In this episode, Andrew plays the host this episode, and Jeff and Michael share their take of the history and future of Arkansas’ Entrep...
Apr 11, 2017•33 min
Permjot Valia is a world-class heckler. He also has a strong, diverse background in sales, early stage investing, startups, and mentoring. We were able to get him to the microphone for this short episode during his last visit to Northwest Arkansas – it’s backed with humor, sales psychology, pitch advice and much more. Enjoy! Hosts: [email protected] [email protected]...
Apr 04, 2017•16 min
